Personnel Effects
by JoeNobody
Summary: Set shortly before The Motion Picture, Captain Kirk is confronted with the consequences of his decisions, and forced to make a very hard decision.


Captain James T. Kirk dreaded this meeting. He had been avoiding it for almost a year. Indeed, he feared that it would be the last meeting he would ever attend.

Well, the last meeting Captain Kirk would attend.

But he could avoid it no longer. He was at the door of the offices of Admiral Heihachiro Nogura, the Starfleet Commander In Chief.

"Captain!" The overly perky lieutenant at the desk smiled warmly. "The Admiral said to show you right in."

Kirk entered Nogura's office warily. The old man was behind his desk, with a stack of data cards at hand. "Have a seat, Jim."

"I'd rather stand, sir."

"That wasn't a request, Captain. Take a seat."

"Aye, sir." Kirk reluctantly lowered himself into the chair, but - in a stubborn show of pride - rested on the edge of the seat, his back rigid and at attention. Nogura could make him sit, but couldn't make him not at least look like he was still standing.

Then he realized how juvenile that was, and he settled back. Give the old man a victory up front, and he might be more obliging. "Sir, I know you want me to accept promotion to the admiralty. I've stated before, sir, why I don't wish to give up command, and those reasons haven't changed."

"Jim, that's not why I wanted to talk to you. At least, not at first."

Kirk was startled. "It isn't?"

"No, Jim, it isn't. I can't force you to accept a promotion, so I can't officially foist some of my paperwork on you, but while you're between missions I can shanghai you to pick your brain on some of them. Specifically, I want your input on some personnel matters."

Kirk relaxed for a moment, then smelled a trap. The old man was a cunning foe. But if he thought giving Kirk a taste of what the admiralty was like would lure him to reconsider, he had another think coming. Personnel matters were one of the parts of command he'd always hated; if anything, this discussion would only reinforce his resistance. "I'm at your disposal, sir."

"First up, we have Lieutenant Commander Montgomery Scott."

Kirk's head snapped up. "Scotty?"

Nogura glared at the interruption. "Yes, Mr. Scott, your chief engineer. Offered a promotion to full commander and reassignment to Starfleet R & D. Declined in order to remain in current position - chief engineer, USS Enterprise."

"Scotty turned that down? I never knew... why didn't he tell me?"

Nogura glared at Kirk. "You'll have to ask him. Next, we have Lieutenant Hikaru Sulu. Offered promotion to Lieutenant Commander and posting as first officer to patrol frigate USS Forrester. Declined in order to remain in current position – chief helmsman, USS Enterprise."

"Sulu turned down an exec slot? He never told me..."

Nogura ignored the interruption and continued. "Lieutenant Pavel Chekov. Offered promotion to lieutenant commander and posting as second in command of security, Starbase Eight. Declined in order to remain in current position - chief navigator, USS Enterprise."

"Chekov too?"

Nogura finally acknowledged Kirk's outbursts. "You're a damned fine captain, Jim. And you've gotten remarkably proficient at developing very good officers. It should come as no surprise that others might want to use some of the people you've helped train. Hell, you know as well as I do that a posting to the Enterprise is a hell of a good mark on anyone's service record."

"Well, yes, sir, but I had no idea that my top people were in such high demand."

"They are, Jim, but they aren't interested in moving on, in advancing their careers. They seem happy where they are."

"That... that's flattering, sir, but I can't help but feel responsible for their careers not progressing."

Nogura caught Kirk's eyes, then held them with his trademarked steely glare. "You should."

The silence held for several seconds, until Nogura picked up the next data card.

"Commander Susan Okona. First officer, USS Yorktown. Slated for promotion to captain and command of a starship of her own. After one year on the list, retired at rank of commander ten months ago. Currently commanding a cruise ship out of Argelius."

Card number five. "Commander Archibald McGee. First officer, USS Saratoga. Slated for promotion to captain and command of a starship of his own. After seven months on the list, retired at the rank of commander seven months ago. Now a civilian consultant to Starfleet."

Card six. "Commander Richard Sharpe. First officer, USS Farragut. Slated for promotion to captain and command of a starship of his own. After nine months on the list, retired at the rank of commander two weeks ago. Still trying to decide what to do with the rest of his life."

Kirk was confused. "Sir, those are retired personnel. I don't see what my opinions matter in the least in their regard; they're not active duty any more."

Nogura held up the final card. "Commander Willard Decker. In transit to San Francisco Shipyard for a tour of duty as executive officer from his prior assignment, Starfleet Attache' on Delta IV. I believe you knew the man's father, Jim - Commodore Matt Decker."

"Yes, sir. I've been following Will's career, but I haven't spoken to him since he left the Lexington."

"We're grooming him for command, Jim. He's got a stellar record so far. He did superb work as the first officer on the Lexington, and he showed good diplomatic chops on Delta IV. The tour at the shipyards should firm up the technical side of his training."

"He's a fine man, sir. With a bit more seasoning, he'll do fine."

"I agree, Jim. But the odds are he'll end up like Okona, McGee, and Sharpe, and dead-end at the number two slot. And do you know why?"

"No, sir."

"Because we have too damned many good officers, and not enough ships for them all. For every center seat that opens up, I have at least ten people who deserve it. And that means that nine of them will be disappointed. And, eventually, after enough disappointments, they get fed up and quit."

"I had no idea... what can we do about it?"

"Well, Jim, one solution is to build more ships. We're doing that - we're in the middle of the biggest building program in decades. We have a dozen Miranda-class hulls in construction right now, and R&D is working on a follow-on design for the Constitutions that you wouldn't believe.

"But that's only one side of the equation, Jim. More ships alone won't solve the problem. We can't just build and crew enough ships. The other part of the problem is you."

Kirk was stunned. "Me?"

"Yes, Jim, you. You and others like you."

"I don't understand, sir."

"Jim, you're one of the finest captains Starfleet has ever had. You might even be the best. You're practically a legend. But you're also a roadblock."

Nogura stood and looked out the window, his hands behind his back. "Jim, you're a great captain. You and the Enterprise have worked miracles, and the Federation owes you a greater debt than we can ever repay. If I had my way, I'd keep you in that chair for the rest of your life."

Nogura turned back to face Kirk. "But there's a price for your command, Jim, and it's one that neither you are I are paying. By refusing promotion, you're keeping that seat out of the hands of another officer, a new captain who could make his own mark on Starfleet history. And your own officers - they're giving up fantastic opportunities to stay where they are, in their current ranks and positions. Sooner or later, they'll stop being offered those chances."

"Jim, the Enterprise is turning into a colossal dead end. Most of the officers who we assign there end up staying there. That's part of the reason why Enterprise veterans are so valued - there are so damned few of them. To be blunt, more of your officers leave the Enterprise either dead or in disgrace than request or accept reassignment, even when a promotion is part of the deal.

"As much as Starfleet needs you in command of the Enterprise, we need the Enterprise as a normal part of Starfleet. We need that ship not only carrying out her mission, but training up the next generation of officers and crew that will take Starfleet into the future."

Kirk was speechless. He'd never considered any of this.

"Jim, I've gone to the mat for you several times, keeping you in command when others wanted to get your experience, your knowledge, your skills, off the Enterprise and into some place where you can share that with others, and wield far more influence than a single ship. And, quite frankly, to give another young officer a crack to show whether he

or she can be 'the next Jim Kirk.' I've won, each time, and kept you in command. But I can't keep doing that. Those people who want you out are right. They know it, I know it, and - if you're absolutely honest with yourself - you know it, too.

"This is the last time I'm making the offer, Jim. Take your star. Accept promotion to the admiralty, and let someone else show what they can do with the Enterprise. Let your officers accept the rewards they've earned time and again. And put all you've learned to real use, shaping the future of Starfleet.

"But know this, Jim - if you refuse this promotion, you might as well put in your retirement papers. I can't protect you any more, and even if I could, I wouldn't."

Kirk shook his head. "I... I don't know what to say, sir. I'm going to have to think about this."

"I understand, Jim. Take your time, think it through. The offer won't come down for at least a couple of months. But understand that it will be the last time."

Nogura turned back to the window. "Back in the old days, Jim, they had a term for this: 'up or out.' If an officer would not or could not be promoted, he was discharged to make room for another officer who might do better. Officers weren't allowed to stagnate, to sit in one job for as long as they wanted. We've largely left that behind, but it still applies in certain cases."

Nogura caught Kirk's eye one last time. "Don't be one of those cases, Jim. I don't want to sign your retirement papers."

Jim Kirk got up from the chair and left without a word.

Admiral Nogura sat back down at his desk. The seven datacards were still there. He shuffled the three belonging to the retired officers into one pile, the other four into another.

Then he took an eighth card from his drawer.

KIRK JAMES TIBERIUS SC937-0176 CEC

He stared at it for a long moment, then placed it on the second pile for his yeoman to file away.


End file.
